I got my new clutch and pressure plate in. We started it yesterday afternoon, stopped working about 8 pm last night, and finished it this morning. What a pain in the ass. I think it would have been worth the $600 or so for labor, but despite getting stuck a few times, the end result is worth it. The first time we got really stuck was with the shifter bracket -- we somehow missed the two bolts on top near the shift tower and couldn't figure out how to get the bastid off. The second time we got stuck was with the shifter itself; the retainer is actually really hard to turn counterclockwise. We didn't have a special tool for it so it ended up taking us 20 minutes or so to get it out. Then, we really got stuck trying to mate the transmission bellhousing and the engine. Try as we might, we just couldn't get the damn input shaft to slide in. So after about three hours trying we stopped working and went back to it this morning. We managed to get it mated up within an hour. Everything else was pie.
I think sometimes when you take a break and come back the next morning it helps. You just have a fresh perspective on things and you're not as angry/tired. Anyways, I'm just glad it's done, and this new clutch is pretty tight (in the 'responsive' way.) I like it.
Next thing will be swaybar disconnects. My swaybar has never been connected.
